Run the Lake (Crystal - 2021 - 5 Mile)
Registration:
I was in a debate over a few
runs for the first weekend of August 2022.
The debate included two lake runs.
I knew of Crystal Lake in Benzie County, but I was unaware of Crystal,
Michigan and the 724-acre Crystal Lake in Montcalm County. I made the decision to register for Crystal’s
Run the Lake because they were celebrating a 25th year anniversary
of the run, had amazing shirts and a five-mile course that went all the way
around Crystal Lake. The price was good
at $25.00. I registered Luke for the three-mile
run. It’s rare for us to do different distances
when we race together at an event.
The RunSignUp page was done very professionally. Packet pick-up location and times were the only information that was not listed, but it was sent out in a pre-race day email the night before. Information on RunSignUp was not too overwhelming or too scarce, it was just the right amount.
Run the Lake offered a combined
rate of $45 for participants that wanted to run both the three and five-mile
courses. They had an hour and fifteen-minute time gap between the two races
which gave participants plenty of time to run the five-mile before running the
three mile afterwards. My goal was to
run around the lake in under 50 minutes so I had plenty of time to be back to
see Luke start.
Packet pick-up was in the Crystal
Community Center behind the Crystal Post Office. It wasn’t directly on Crystal Street and having
the address really came in handy. There
were good signs pointing people where to go.
The community center had a lot of hallways. Packet pick-up was in the cafeteria of the
center. It was very spacious. There were two tables lined with raffle prizes
and two tables with old race shirts and post-run surveys. No chairs were set up when I got my packet. Luke got his packet separately because I was
running late to the five mile start and it was a fair distance from the community
center (quarter mile).
Course:
The five-mile course was around Crystal Lake. The start and finish were .32 miles apart down
Lake Street. The finish was technically
on Lakeview Street next to the Crystal Township Park, just a few feet off Lake
Street. Both the three-mile and five-mile
courses had the same start and finish areas.
The three-mile course went 1.55 miles along the southern shores of
Crystal Lake and turned around back along 90% of the same path to the
finish.
The five-mile course around Crystal Lake was beautiful. There was only one area where we couldn’t see the lake on South Pine Grove and Sidney Roads. During that short area we passed two Crystal city signs and an awesome corn field.
We ran past one public beach
on the lake in the first mile, Crystal Township Park and Beach. The beach gave us a great view of the entire course
from a distance. I love lake courses because
I get a great perspective of what miles really look like from a distance. My first half marathon was supposed to circle
Otsego Lake in Gaylord but due to trail construction got changed to an out and
back street course near it instead.
Run the Lake’s course was flat and sunny without many intersections to turn at. We ran past the Crystal Lake Boat Launch area. There were so many people out on their patios, porches and driveways watching participants go by. We got a lot of smiles from locals.
I was constantly admiring all the beach homes. Crystal lake homes were well maintained with amazing landscaping, fun beach décor, fire pits, unique mailboxes etc. The weather was perfect both races.
There were four aide stations on the
five-mile course spaced out well every mile. There were a few course volunteers at turns, but not many were needed
with the circle course.
Time always seems to go by quicker when I run by water. Run the Lake was a very enjoyable course. I didn’t feel completely beat at any given
time while running. It was very
consistent running for me. I would
highly recommend anyone thinking of registering for Run the Lake to register for
the five-mile course. The extra two
miles to run around the entire lake is totally worth it. The three-mile course did have nice lake
views, but it was out and back seeing more of the same scenery. Doing the three-mile course only gets participants
1.55 miles of beautiful Crystal Lake. Regardless
of shortened water scenery, it is wonderful Run the Lake has two distance options
for participants.
Swag:
I received an amazing 25th anniversary soft cotton t-shirt with the colorful Run the Lake logo. The logo for this year was beautiful. The design and artwork will be hard to top in coming years. Shannon Shassberger was the artist behind the very special logo for 2021. Stone House Treasures in Cyrstal cut the medals. It was great that the picture took up a large portion of the shirt. Their past race shirts had much smaller logos. I loved that race staff pulled out all the stops for their 25th anniversary. Janet Shy, the Race Coordinator for Run the Lake, repeatedly said how important it was that all participants got a shirt due to the anniversary of the race. She mentioned making a separate order for shirts if needed to insure everyone received a shirt that wanted one.
Luke and I both received a great
swag bag filled with goodies from race sponsors. The bag itself was gray with my initial on
it. We both got umbrellas with free day
passes to the Montcalm Community College Fitness Center good for one year. We got a card holder for the back of a cell
phone, flashlight keychains, pins, magnet food clips, 10% off coupons for
Dunham’s, one free soft serve cone at Ike’s Ice Cream Shack in Crystal, sting
relief treatment, eyelid wipes, hand sanitizer and alcohol wipes. It was a really nice packet of sponsor
goodies. I loved getting magnet
clips. We can never have enough at our
house.
We forgot to use the Ike’s ice
cream coupon before we left. Hopefully it’s
good for a while like the free day pass at the fitness center.
Run the Lake gave out small
wooden finisher medals to all participants of both races. The medals were on a string instead of a thick
lanyard making them more rustic in nature.
The wood circles had the Run the Lake logo engraved in them. They were very cool. I wasn’t expecting them. It wasn’t listed that the run would have finisher
medals. They may have wanted finisher medals
to be a surprise for their anniversary. If
so, that was well done.
There was a huge raffle held
after the awards ceremony. The raffle is
done annually from generous donations. Participants
were given red raffle tickets at packet pick-up. I had my eyes set on the amazing Halloween
house yard sculpture. They had a bunch of
colorful water bottles, two awesome copper yard décor sticks with a butterfly
and hummingbird, a casserole dish, umbrellas, Sparrow hospital grab bags and
more! I love runs that do raffles. It gives everyone that participated one last
chance to take something home, especially if they didn’t place in age
groups. My raffle number was pulled late
and there wasn’t a lot of options left on the table. I got a bright orange metal water bottle that
had “Montcalm County” on it. It was awesome. As it drew near the end of the raffle Luke
was sad he hadn’t won. A young woman
sitting across from us outside came over and gave Luke her raffle ticket when
it was called. It was such an amazing
act of kindness. Luke went in and got a
new wallet that he really likes. His
raffle ticket never ended up being called.
Food:
The food was absolutely amazing
at Run the Lake!! I couldn’t believe
it. I even questioned it with the race
volunteer behind the counter. I asked
her how much I needed to pay when I saw pre-wrapped turkey and ham sandwiches. They had a wonderful breakfast nook to display
the food. There was mustard and mayonnaise
out for sandwiches, a huge bowl of grapes and a stack of bananas. Just as I thought the food couldn’t get any
better I saw the variety of drinks… HUGE bottles of PowerAide in Mountain Berry
Blast, Fruit Punch and Grape and 14oz Prairie Farms milk bottles in strawberry
and chocolate in addition to full size water bottles. It was out of this world awesome! I love strawberry milk. Race staff let Jason, Ryan and Will come up
and get sandwiches and drinks when we were leaving. We all had lunch thanks to Run the Lake. Luke had the meat and cheese without the bun
with a handful of grapes. They were
great turkey sandwiches.
Awards:
Run the Lake had a wonderful awards ceremony hosted in the cafeteria
of the community center. Tons of
foldable chairs had been put out while the five-milers were running that gave great
seating. We sat on a group of chairs that
were on the cement patio right outside the door where Janet stood with her mic. Based on our proximity to Janet we would have
heard her just fine. She had speakers which
could be heard clearly at the park across the street. That’s how I knew awards had started. We were sitting on the grass hill while the
kids played. I had to get up and book it
up the hill when I heard my name called for my age group. I hadn’t checked results. The ceremony started with Janet talking about
the significance of the 25th year anniversary and things that were
done to make it more special than usual.
Awards came after her announcements and the raffle followed the awards.
Janet took two minutes to give a very heartfelt dedication to Ed
Kimmel of Crystal, Michigan who ran Run the Lake for 22 of the run’s 25
years. Ed did some amazing things in his
91 years of life. He swam across Crystal
Lake, ran the Boston Marathon many times, did many triathlons, got his pilot’s
license and became a certified scuba diver.
Ed became a personal trainer and nutritionist while running a pharmacy
in Crystal. Ed fell a block away from the
finish line during one Run the Lake race, got up and still finished injured.
Wooden engraved plaques
were given to overall winners of the five-mile and three-mile races. The plaques had the state of Michigan carved
into them. Age group winners received
wooden medals identical in shape and size to finisher medals with the same gray
string. The difference was the engraving
with “1st, 2nd and 3rd.” The wood on the age group medals was also
stained to match colors of bronze, silver and gold. Finisher medals and age group medals
complimented one another.
Run the Lake had outstanding age group categories in five-year increments
starting at “8 and under” and ending at 90+!!
You read that last age group right…
90+ !!!
They made two two-year age groups after “8 and under” for 9-11
and 12-14. It was fair to younger and
older runners. I have never seen a run
do this. I truly applaud race staff for
thinking of runners across a much larger age spectrum and making awards
attainable for so many.
City Notes:
There are two
Crystal Lakes in the state of Michigan.
The more well-known much larger Crystal Lake is in Frankfort. A little town nestled between Vestaburg,
Stanton, Carson City and Ithaca has the second Crystal Lake. The two Crystal lakes differ by 8,987 acres
in size. Another distinguishing factor,
Crystal’s Crystal Lake has a small island in it with homes.
Stone House Treasures in Crystal, Michigan was once a funeral
home. In 1998 it became a beloved Crystal storefont. It is an amazing antique and
gift shop where one-of-a-kind treasures and many handmade items can
be found in its 21 themed rooms! I love
USA and Michigan made things. Exposed brick
walls left in some rooms bring out the home’s historical charm. Stone House did a wonderful job on the laser
cutting of the finisher and age group medals for Run the Lake. The store is open from 10am-5:30pm on Fridays
and Saturdays.
Crystal, Michigan is home to Crystal Motor Speedway, The Candle Cottage,
Rainbow Gardens Roller Rink and Crystal Box Office Theater. Crystal Box Theater was opened in 1947 with nine
cent children’s movie tickets and 35 cent adult movie tickets. South Crystal Street runs through downtown
Crystal. It is a small downtown that
has a beach city feel to it. It gets
pretty hilly near the Crystal Community Center and township park.
I was curious what used to be on the corner of Lakeview and Lake
Street. It looked like a go-cart
course. It’s a great location for another
entertainment venue to open in Crystal.
There are no schools in Crystal. Children
living in Crystal travel 10 miles to Carson City Schools.
City Sign:
Crystal had city signs at every direction coming into town. They were awesome and extremely easy to
find. Each sign was a little different. We stopped to take a picture with the sign I
passed on the five-mile course. The sign
was a topographic map of Crystal Lake that showed lake depths, overall lake size,
deepest point and surrounding roads on it.
The other Crystal welcome sign we found had a close-up picture of a boat
in the lake with a back that said, “Thank You For Visiting….Come Back Soon.” It was an awesome sign. We always take front and back pictures with
signs that thank people for visiting.
The second Crystal sign had, “Hometown of Crystal Motor Speedway” and
cool circle accents on the sign’s posts.
I noticed all the Crystal signs had different pictures of Crystal Lake
on them.
Other Awesomeness:
I loved how much
spirit, detail and extra special things the Run the Lake race committee put
into their 25th race anniversary run. To whoever was apart of the planning and race
day operations, you rock, no matter how big or small your role was. I have to name Adam Turner specifically
because he sadly passed away two months after Run the Lake this year. He not only helped tremendously with Run the
Lake, he organized the Crystal Car Show, was a volunteer firefighter and a well-known
man in Crystal for many years.
We got so much from Run
the Lake, from a bag full of coupons and amazing sponsor goodies, a beautiful
race shirt, rustic finisher and age group medals, raffle prizes and a full
lunch! I need to watch out for special
anniversary runs more often. Run the
Lake’s 25th Anniversary was an amazing celebration for the small
city of Crystal. It is a run they’ve put
on at their lake for almost three decades.
Ed would be proud of their 25th anniversary dedication.
We stumbled upon Crystal’s Farmer’s
Market on our picture taking circle through town. They had amazing pastries and bread. Each of the kids got a free bracelet from a very
kind local farmer.
We drove to Carson
City after officially leaving Crystal and found West Park. It was a huge park with a very large wooden
play structure, half mile walking trail, trout stream (part of Fish Creek) and
a SPLASH PAD. West Park connects to
Haradine and Grove Parks by a bridge that goes over Fish Creek. Butternut Creek also winds through West
Park. I love the creek names in Carson
City. We spent 90% of our time at the
Splash Pad enjoying a cool down in the summer heat. We saw an awesome family with a Pitt Bull and
a dad with an epic beard Jason admired. I
keep bathing suits and towels permanently in the trunk of the car during the
Spring and Summer in case we find beaches and parks on the way home from runs….
….which we do A LOT.
^_^
We finally stopped
at Phillips Cider Mill on 127 on our drive home! We’ve passed it a handful of times on our trips
to northern cities. I’ve commented
equally as much about remembering it and stopping in the future. The shop inside the cider mill is
amazing!! They have so much Michigan
themed art, yard décor and local foods. Phillip’s
Cider Mill stays open all year long for people that need a cider and donut fix
the other seven months of the year (me).
I loved the frozen cider! They
had day old donuts for dogs and a platter of gluten free treats for Luke to
choose from.
Luke and I both won awards in our age groups at Run the Lake. I won second place and Luke won third place. During the awards ceremony the fourth-place boy in the “8 and under” category was called for the third-place award instead of Luke. Race staff didn’t catch their mistake until we came to them after the awards ceremony and raffle had ended. I felt really bad for Luke. He was sitting in his seat excited about his name about to be called, ready to jump up. I almost gave Run the Lake a 4.9 under the “Awards” rating category. Due to every other aspect of this run being absolutely spectacular and executed flawlessly I had to give them a break. They had so many age groups to announce and mistakes happen. Had there been multiple mistakes I would have gone with the 4.9.
I’ve been to two races that announced someone else in my place or forgot
to announce me completely. It is sad when
it happens. Age group awards are a great
take home. Being acknowledged in front of
people for that short moment is meaningful too. Race staff were very accommodating and
apologetic over the incident and Luke still got an awesome 3rd place
medal.
It was Run the Lake's 25th year and my 200th run.
Two great reasons to celebrate.
Course Rating: 5 Stars
Post-Race Food Rating: 5 Stars
Swag Rating: 5 Stars
Awards Rating: 5 Stars
Race Execution: 5 Stars
Restroom Rating: 5 Stars
Aide Stations: 5 Stars
Run the Lake Quote:
“The only certain means of success is to render more and better
service than is expected of you, no matter what your task may be.”
– Og Mandino.
Comments
Post a Comment